Vintage Mother's Day Cards & My Mom In Germany

Mother's Day is this Sunday, but just a heads-up before we get started today.  For those who follow this blog mostly for my theme park and/or Disney-related posts, I apologize for posting a little heavily lately on the vintage holiday items, greeting cards, and the "U.S. Army in Berlin" photos.  However, please check back next month, when I will have a post celebrating the 50th anniversary of the opening of Knott's Berry Farm's "Roaring 20s" area!  Thanks!

This first item is an antique postcard that I purchased thirty-six years ago, in Victoria, British Columbia.  I have previously posted antique Valentine's Day and Easter postcards, both from the same little shop.  And just like the details on those other postcards, the flowers and the lettering on this one are all embossed.  I guess technically, this wasn't a Mother's Day card, but it certainly could have been used as one.

The back has a July 24, 1909 postmark!  "Grant" sent this to his mother in Waterloo, Ontario, and wrote, "Dear Mother, We are having a fine time out here and intend to go fishing soon.  Kisses XXXXXX Grant."  (Last month, I posted an Easter postcard sent to Mr. John A. Harper, by his nephew.  This postcard was sent to Mrs. John A. Harper, by her son.  And again, after a little research, I discovered that John Harper was my 9th cousin, three times removed.  The great-great-great-etc. grandparent that we have in common, dates back to England in the 1500s!)

The next seven cards were all given to my mom.

This "groovy" one was from me.  It isn't dated, but it would be from the 1970s.

This card would be from several years earlier, and was also from me.  It was manufactured by "Paramount," and was from their "Paramount Pet" line of cards.

It was signed with my name at the bottom, but I could tell that it was done by an adult (my dad!) who was trying to make the writing look like it was done by a very small child.

The next two cards were from "Buzza Cardozo of Anaheim California," with this first one being from the company's "Needlepoint Card" line.  It was from my mom's sister.

And this is another card that was signed for me, by my dad.  The purple areas on this one are all flocked/fuzzy.

My dad wrote my age inside the card,  Wait....maybe I was a very advanced child, and was writing by the age of two!  ;-)

Here's an American Greetings card, done in the same style as that "Needlepoint" card.  This one was from my grandparents.

Seeing the color of ink inside, reminded me that my grandmother often kept a pen by her telephone, which wrote in purple ink!

This multi-page card was from my brother, and was manufactured by "Laurel Cards."

And my dad gave this "Rust Craft" card to my mom, on her very first Mother's Day.

The woman is "three-dimensional," like a page out of a "pop-up" book.  The cutout had to be pressed flat when I scanned the card, so that's why the paper is a little "rippled" at the bottom.

These next three cards were given to my grandmothers.

The first one is another card by "Buzza Cardozo of Anaheim, California."  Unfortunately, there is kind of a sad story that goes along with it.  The card was addressed to my great-grandmother.  (Not the one who brought her home-cooked fried chicken into Disneyland, but my other great-grandmother, who passed away when I was four.)  I recently discovered this among the other cards that my mom had saved, but the card's envelope was still sealed tight.  It had never been opened.  I looked up the date that my great-grandmother passed away, and it was just a few days after Mother's Day.  I don't remember whether or not she had been ill in the days leading up to her passing, but it was obvious that this card had never been opened, and that she never got to see it.

An adult had signed it for my brother and me.

Here's a "Gibson" card that was sent by my Dad, to his mom (in Maryland), in 1965.

And this card was sent by my mom, to her mom, while she was working for the U.S. Army in Berlin, in 1960.

This last card is from Germany, and was purchased by my dad while he was in the Army, and stationed in Berlin.  It's blank inside, but the sentiment on the front of the card translates to, "For Mother's Day Sincere Congratulations."  It was never used, but I'm guessing my dad had originally planned to give it to his mom.

Since I have gotten in the habit lately of sharing some of my mom and dad's Berlin photos, here are a few more, all featuring my mom.  These would be from either 1959 or 1960.

This one shows my mom, standing in front of the Brandenburg Gate.  That's East Berlin, just on the other side of the gate, and that sign on the left translates to, "Warning! - You Will Be Leaving West Berlin In 40 Meters!"  This was just a year or two before the Berlin Wall went up.  Those East Berlin buildings visible on the other side of the gate were all fake, just like the "backlot" of a movie studio.  It was to give the false impression that everything in East Berlin was modern and well-maintained, just like on the West Berlin side.  Driving a little further past those buildings however, revealed a completely different reality.

This appears to be a large roadside water pump, but I don't know specifically where it was located.  Oh, and I now have that basket/purse that my mom is carrying!

I'm also not sure where this was taken, but I'm going to guess that it was fairly close to my mom's apartment, in Berlin.

I believe this one was taken at a waterfront restaurant, along the Havel River, in Berlin.  My mom is on the left, and the lady in the middle was her friend and coworker, Dagmar Kunz (who we saw in last month's post).  I don't know the name of the other lady, but they all worked together in the All American Service Club, at McNair Barracks.

Here's a better look at the view from the restaurant's patio.  I merged two of my mom's photos for this image.

I really love these next two photos.  They were taken at McNair Barracks, by my dad.  I actually have a snippet of color movie footage (less than a minute long), showing my dad in his uniform, picking my mom up and placing her on this military vehicle.  Neither one of them had a movie camera back then, so it must have belonged to one of the other soldiers, and he must have cut that short piece of film off of the reel after developing it, and given it to my dad.

Happy Mother's Day, to all of the mom's out there!
 

Vintage Easter Stuff & Easter In Berlin (1960)

Since Easter is just two weeks away, let's take a look at some vintage Easter "stuff"!

This vintage item is the "Decoregger Egg Decorating Machine," from the 1970s.  It was purchased at our local "Lucky" Supermarket, for only .99 cents (note the original price tag, which is still attached to the box).  This "machine" was supposed to help you to decorate your hard-boiled eggs with colored markers, instead of dyeing them.

The instructions were on the back of the box.  From what I remember, this thing didn't work quite like I was expecting it to.  I never got anything close to what the egg on the front of the box looked like.

I still have the colored pens, and the envelope they came in.

And here's the actual contraption.

This next item is also from my childhood.  It's a cardboard cutout for a chocolate-covered marshmallow bunny "on-a-stick."  It was sort of like a very large sucker, except it was "soft" because it contained marshmallow inside.  The candy came wrapped in cellophane, with this cutout tied to the outside.  This is also from the 1970s, and was included in my Easter basket one year.

Here's an older version, from the 1960s.  I wasn't born yet, but my older brother got one of these in his Easter basket.  The graphics are a little different, and there is additional writing on the bunny's sign, but I'm guessing that it came from the same manufacturer.  I believe variations of this type of candy "on-a-stick" are still available today, for different holidays.

That same year, my mom and dad took my brother to The Broadway department store (in the Del Amo Shopping Center, in Torrance, CA), for an "Easter portrait."  The photo came in a card-like holder, with these cool graphics on the cover.

And here is the photo.  I especially like that leaping rabbit in the background.  It's reminiscent of a leaping reindeer figure that might be seen at a "Santa Claus" meet & greet.  It looks like Mr. Bunny has a furry mitten on one hand, but is missing the mitten on the other hand.  It also appears that Mr. Bunny had a microphone attached to his chest, so he could talk to his young visitors.  "Okay kid, get down now.....it's time for my cigarette break!" (Spoken in a "Krusty The Clown" voice.)

A few years back, my aunt gave me this vintage plastic "cake topper."  I love how the bunny is just randomly hugging a 1950s-style rocket.  The rocket's shape reminds me of the Moonliner rocket, from Disneyland's 1955 Tomorrowland.

Going back even further in time, here's an Easter card from 1945.  This was given to my mom, by her parents.

However, they actually gave her this card in 1981.  I'm not sure if they had saved this for 36 years and had just not used it, or if they found this vintage card for sale somewhere (ebay didn't exist back then!).

The back of the card shows that it was a "Hallmark Card," and includes the copyright date of 1945.

This Norcross brand card is most likely from the late 1960s, and was given to my dad, by my brother.

 

And this Charm Craft card was given to my brother in the 1960s, by our great-grandmother (the same one who brought her home-cooked fried chicken into Disneyland, during one of my family's visits to the park).

I took piano lessons during my childhood, and my teacher had me learn the song, "Peter Cottontail."  The sheet music has a copyright date of 1950 down in the lower left corner, but Wikipedia states that the song was written in 1949.  The same songwriters, Nelson and Rollins, wrote "Frosty The Snowman" the following year.

Nelson and Rollins also wrote non-Easter-related lyrics to Peter Cottontail, which later appeared on the Disneyland Record, "Peter Cottontail - Plus Other Funny Bunnies and their Friends."

My aunt also gave me this vintage advertising card, or as they seem to be referred to in ebay listings, "trade card."  It's the same size and thickness of a typical postcard.  Huyler's was a candy store chain in New York, which operated from 1874 to 1964.  For a time, it was the largest and most prominent chocolate maker in the United States.  According to Wikipedia, Milton S. Hershey worked for Huyler's from 1883 to 1885, and then went back to his home state of Pennsylvania to start his own company!

Back in 1989, I purchased a few vintage postcards during a trip to Victoria, British Columbia.  And just like the vintage Valentine postcard that I shared back in February of 2022, most of the details on this one are embossed.

The card was postmarked April, 1909.  When I bought this, it was already 80 years old, but now it is 116!  I have to say that it has held up pretty well, even though the back has some light staining.  The sender's message was, "To My Dear Uncle,  It is coming round to our birthday.  I go to school everyday.  I like my teacher.  Love to my uncle John, from your (nephew?) Earl"  (I added the punctuation, because the child didn't use any!)  Earl's uncle, John A. Harper, lived in Waterloo, Ontario.  I've had this card for 35 years, but only after getting it out recently to scan for this post (and doing a little research on those names), have I discovered that Earl was my 10th cousin twice removed, and John was my 9th cousin three times removed!  It really is a small world, after all!

I hope everyone has an egg-cellent Easter!  ;-)

****Update****

Once again, I've decided to share some of my dad's photos, which he took when he was stationed at McNair Barracks, in Berlin.  To see more of his vintage U.S. Army photos, check out my Veteran's Day post from November of 2024.

These pics are all from Easter of 1960, and were taken on the base, inside the All American Service Club (where my mom worked as a recreation director).  The Service Club staff had invited German children from a local orphanage, to come to the base and enjoy some Easter festivities.

I'm guessing that the club's recreation directors got one of the soldiers to dress up as the "Easter Bunny."  They used to "recruit" the soldiers on the base, to participate in the various Club activities and stage shows.

Most of the kids in this pic are holding up their Easter baskets.  The girl in the polka dot dress is also holding onto a plush rabbit.  And a boy to the right of her is holding up a box labeled, "Dominoes."

Many of the soldiers really enjoyed spending time with the children, especially the soldiers with children of their own, who were now thousands of miles away back home in the U.S.  Notice the drink dispenser in the background.  I looked up the translation of what's written on the side.  "Erfrische Dich" means, "Catch Yourself," and "Trink Coca-Cola Immer Eiskalt" means, "Drink Coca-Cola - Always Cold/Icy."  That door on the right led to the Service Club's offices, and also the base's Craft Shop (wood, metal, leather), Music Room, Library, and the Photo Lab, where my dad spent a LOT of his spare time, developing and printing all of the photos that he took.

It looks like these children might have been playing "musical chairs," or as it's called in German, "Reise Nach Jerusalem" (The Journey to Jerusalem).

Based on the reel to reel tape recorder on the table, and what looks like a microphone in front of the little girl, I'm guessing that they were letting the kids record their voices and then letting them hear it played back.  The lady in the uniform (with the "U.S. Army Service Clubs" patch on the shoulder), was Carol Murphy, who's title was "Club Director."

The recreation director leaning over in this photo was Dagmar Kunz, a very good friend of my mom's.  They did some local sightseeing together, whenever their time off from work corresponded with one another.

And the lady in this photo, being "piled on" by kids, was Shirley Robinson, the "Assistant Club Director."  She was another good friend of my mom's.

Here's Shirley, again.  It looks like she is taking candy out of that paper bag, and handing it out to the children.  Dagmar can also be seen in the background (leaning over, again).  To the right of her, is someone dressed as a hobo.  And the two women above Shirley's head are, Carol Murphy (left), and my mom (right).  For some strange reason, this is the only photo that my dad took during this Easter event, in which my mom appears.

This soldier appears with the same little girl, in the next two photos.

From the looks of the flat wooden stick, it appears this soldier is feeding that kid some ice cream.

At this point, they all went out outside.  The kids are holding eggs, so I'm guessing they were either participating in an Easter egg hunt, or were going to have an Easter egg rolling contest.  Or both!  Of course, the eggs could have been rotten, and the kids might have been plotting to fling them over the fence, at local passersby.

And just as I have shared some portraits of some of the soldiers at McNair Barracks, I'm going to share individual shots of some of the All American Service Club staff (who we saw above).  I'm hoping that some of the families of the many people my dad photographed, will somehow come across the photos I've posted.

These first two pics are of Dagmar Kunz, taken in the office of the All American Service Club.

My mom's desk is in the background of this next shot!

These next two photos are of Shirley Robinson.  As the Assistant Club Director, her desk was actually on the other side of that glass wall, alongside the desk of the Club Director, Carol Murphy.  Shirley is cutting out the pictures from a Trans World Airlines calendar.  We can just make out the words, "Fly The Finest - FLY TWA."

In this shot, Shirley is just outside the perimeter of McNair Barracks.  There was an "Autobus" stop just out of view, which provided convenient transportation for both the soldiers, and the non-enlisted staff.  The Service Club staff all lived off-base, in housing that was paid for by the U.S. Department of the Army.

Last up, we have two photos of the Club Director, Carol Murphy, who we previously only saw from behind.

This photo was taken in the base's Craft Shop, and came from a batch that my dad had labeled, "All American Club Craft Shop - Publicity Photos for Craft Week."